(“Duuuude! Sternum!”) Zeke quotes “the Bard” and delivers another ren-faire ramble about day defeating the night and believing the children are our future. (Points to Rick for telling her that when this whole Negan business is over, “I’m following you.”) But it’s Jerry who delivers the best speech of the day, as he instructs Enid on body-armor usage. Maggie has grown from apprehensive farm girl to fearless leader who’s putting maternity leave on hold for one last scrum. My hunch: This fellow is a troubled guy, but good, and he will be useful in some way.įor all the knocks on this show, one thing it’s done well is create strong female characters. Rick scares the dude away, but Carl returns to the scene with an offering of canned food. Carl stumbles across a mysterious guy at a gas station who’s babbling about a microwave that was thrown at him, his mother talking about helping “the traveller,” and a quote from the Koran. Your boy is gonna die.” Do those teary-eyed shots of Rick suggest this dirtbag may prove to be right?)Ī few noteworthy moments arrive before the Rick-Negan showdown. Honorable mention: Rick and the moron who unwisely says, “I saw you begging, crying. Runner-up: the tree-stand stooge who ends up as zombie food. (Daryl wins “best kill” for taking a guard’s gun and his smoke.
This was all made possible thanks to Daryl’s inside man, Dwight, who kindly detailed the locations of each Savior lookout. (I really hope there’s an episode where his bike gets wrecked and he’s forced to use a Vespa.) Before the undead arrive, Rick rolls up to Negan’s front door with some heavily armored vehicles and a buttload of guns-‘n’-ammo.
#THE WALKING DEAD SEASON 8 EPISODE 1 FULL EPISODE SERIES#
A herd of walkers are led toward the Sanctuary by a series of blowups, which are a perfect excuse to watch Daryl cruise away on his hog as fireballs burst behind him. For the zillionth time, the survivors concoct a plan that requires Swiss watch precision, Broadway-level choreography, and Michael Bay–size explosions. The action - and this episode is almost all action - begins with Rick, Ezekiel, and Maggie rousing their troops for an elaborate assault on the Sanctuary. Rick is ugly-crying again? And then … Rick is old? (It’s worth noting that showrunner Scott Gimple has confirmed that Rick is not waking from his coma, so thankfully the series hasn’t been a Dallas-style dream.) Related StoriesĪMC’s Streaming Service Will Begin Offering Additional Walking Dead Features Instead, there’s some intriguing time-shifting throughout the episode. So let’s fret about the future later and celebrate a solid premiere that lives up to this season’s tagline, “All Out War.” It could easily have been a simple, slow-build battle with the Saviors. But as Negan might say, “Well, shit, snowflake! You bitch and you moan … and yet here you are, back for more. What happens when Negan is eventually killed, as Rick has repeatedly promised? Are they stuck in an endless loop of meeting and beating Big Bads, like a video game with no end? Are we running out of ways to be shocked and surprised? These questions feel especially appropriate as we’ve reached this landmark 100th episode. Still, I felt a wave of walker-induced existential angst sweep over me. Sure, it was encouraging to see Rick finally pick himself up off the canvas and come at Negan swinging (with a little help from Zombie Sasha and Shiva the Somehow-Very-Well-Fed Tiger).
Last season of The Walking Dead ended on an optimistic note for the survivor-warriors of Alexandria, Hilltop, and the Kingdom, but it also ended with a bit of the ol’ sad trombone for me.